makathon

Cover story | Indian Hockey – in a marketing soup? markathon|august 2012

MARKATHON Marketing Magazine of IIM Shillong Volume 4 | Issue 5

Nove

mbe

r 12

Prof. Trichy Krishnan

Associate Professor and Vice-Dean, PhD & Research, National University of Singapore

Design Credits to Saiprasad Shetye

“Money doesn’t grow on trees” and who would know it

better than the common Indian man! With the much

debated announcement of FDI in Retail to the big

opening of Starbucks in Mumbai, India is fast opening

up to the International markets. How will this change

the consumer buying pattern and preferences is

something worth studying, especially for the marketers.

Whatever be the trend, businesses for sure are going to

blossom!

Social media is another big thing which has been

changing the business environment since the past few

years, Facebook playing an important role in it. With

Google+ coming up strongly and putting a brave fight

now, it takes us to the age old debate of social media

and how it is changing our lives. Our cover story for this

month focusses on the journey of these two giants and

how Facebook and Google+ were conceptualized from

the beginning. It takes us through their respective

strategies and how each has evolved accordingly. It

ultimately addresses the million dollar question of who

will survive the test of time and how.

The cover page and cover story for this edition has been

designed by Saiprasad Shetye of PGP 12 and we would

specially like to thank him for his tremendous efforts in

giving life to the parties in discussion. He has rightly

showcased that designing is more than just a play of

colours and pictures!

Our Vartalaap section for this month covers Mr. Trichy

Krishnan, Associate Professor and Vice-Dean at National

University of Singapore. He has done extensive research

and published articles on a wide range of topics from

loyalty programs to pricing strategies. Having received

many awards for teaching, he shares with us insights

about his research and the latest trends one should be

aware of. An interesting read for all marketers and

more so for those interested in research!

Last month Marketing Club organized an intra-collegiate

event “War of the Brands” based on the concept of

Ambush Marketing. With over 60 teams participating, it

saw students coming up with exceptional

advertisements on a wide range of brands and then

ambushing each other’s advertisements, which couldn’t

have been more fun. It showcased the immense

potential in students today. We have published the

winning entry in this edition, hope you enjoy it.

With the new team joining in very soon, we would be

looking forward to new sections and modifications to

further improve the magazine. So if there is anything on

your mind, now is the right time. Send in your

feedback/suggestions to [email protected]. It

will go a long way in helping us create a better

magazine for all of us.

So hold your breath and take a dive into the world of

marketing filled with humour, innovation and

dynamism.

Happy Reading!

Team Markathon

Team Markathon

FROM TEAM MARKATHON

THE MARKATHON TEAM

Editors

G S N Aditya

Piyush Agarwal

Mayur Jain

Sowmya R

Swati Nidiganti

Umang Kulshrestha

Creative Designers

Priya Kumari Agrawal

Rushika Sabnis

mailto:[email protected]

markathon |november 2012

3

CONTENTS

FEATURED ARTICLES PERSPECTIVES USABILITY VS PERSUASIVENESS

4

PRATEEK UPADHYAYA & PARUL AGARWAL, IIM KOZHIKODE

JUGAAD - THE INDIAN WAY OF DOING THINGS 7 KARAN AGRAWAL, KRITI DUA, GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT,CHENNAI

PRODUCTOLYSIS STRATEGIC ANALYSIS, SHOPPING KA NAYA ADDRESS! - A COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF THE MARKETING STRATEGY OF FLIPKART

9

RAM KRISHN PANDE, INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, NIRMA UNIVERSITY

COVER STORY GOOGLE+: A CHALLENGER TO FACEBOOK DOMINANCE 12 POCHINENI SHALINI | NIMESH NAIR | IIM SHILLONG

VARTALAAP PROF. TRICHY KRISHNAN 17 ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND VICE-DEAN, PHD & RESEARCH, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

WAR ZONE EYE 2 EYE “WITH SAMSUNG AND APPLE STARTING IT AGAIN, DOES COMPARATIVE ADVERTISING HELP INCREASE BUSINESS?”

20

PAVAN KUMAR R | BIM, TRICHY | ABHINAV BARNWAL |SPJIMR, MUMBAI

SILENT VOICE MARUTI ALTO 800

21

SPECIALS ADDICTED UMANG KULSHRESTHA & G S N ADITYA | IIM S

22

RADICAL THOUGHTS PIYUSH AGARWAL| IIM SHILLONG

23

FUN CORNER RUSHIKA SABNIS| IIM SHILLONG

24

CAMPUS EVENT WAR OF BRANDS | MARKETING CLUB

26

UPDATES MAYUR JAIN| IIM SHILLONG 27

perspective markathon|november 2012

Usability v/s Persuasiveness

By Prateek Upadhyaya & Parul Agarwal,

IIM – Kozhikode

Have you ever wondered why the “logout” button is

always on the top right corner of your screen in every

website that you login? Have you spared a thought as to

why online ticket booking sites show sold out flights or

buses? How random is the setup of a supermarket store

like a Reliance Fresh or Big Bazaar? Have you ever been

tempted to book your movie tickets as soon as possible

because the movie theatre site shows “Hurry, few seats

left”? (Come on be true to yourself!)

Let us take the help of the concepts of usability and

persuasiveness to understand the above phenomena.

The holy Bible for managers, Wikipedia, defines

Usability as the ease of use and learnability of a human-

made object like a software application, website, book,

tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts

with. Thus it helps in answering questions like who are

the users, what do they know, what can they learn,

what do they want, what must be taught and what can

be left to the machine? So next time when you are

filling a form and see help text written below the

question, that is how the form is being made more

usable for you. This does not imply that marketers

assume that users lack intellectual knowledge but are in

fact channeling this knowledge so that the users don’t

have to put in much effort.

This makes us believe that a marketer should go with

the convention as users like conventional things.

Change is something which causes a lot of discomfort to

the users, isn’t it? For example, suppose I make a

website which allows you to play a virtual game of

cricket but you have to login to play. So you login and

start hitting the cricket ball out of the park ensuring

India wins this virtual world cup. After you get bored,

you want to logout. What would you do? Go to the top

right corner to look for the logout button right? But

being the shrewd character that I am, I put the logout

button at the very bottom of the page on the left side.

So you have to put in

extra effort to search for

the logout button which

could lead to irritation,

frustration and ultimately

to some dissatisfaction.

As a marketer the last

thing you want to see,

apart from dropping sales

numbers, is an unsatisfied

customer. So my boss

makes me go by the book


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• Task completion by users - Whether the users are able to finish the tasks that they started Effectiveness

• Task completion in minimum time - Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks? Efficiency

• How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design? When users return after a period, how easily can they re establish proficiency?

Explanative

• How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors? Error Handling

• Response by user in terms of satisfaction - How pleasant is it to use the design? Experience

and asks me to put the logout tab on top-right corner.

Next time you won’t have to put in an effort to logout.

Usability works on improving the user interaction

majorly on five dimensions which can be defined by the

5 Es given below:

Enhancing

the usability on these five attributes will lead to a more

usable product which will be more acceptable. Thus, a

website which is unable to retain users for a long time

and has a very high bounce rate should re-plan their

strategy on its usability model.

Right after reading all that, just when you were

beginning to trust the concept of usability and were on

the verge of accepting “enhancing usability” as the one

single mantra to all your problems, enter

Persuasiveness. This concept states that, in this world of

clutter when everyone is looking to find that little space

in the minds of the customer and every company is

trying to outdo others in every possible way, the end

result is a very confused customer who doesn’t know

what he wants. Thus, there arises a need for the

marketer to persuade the customer into choosing the

“right” option. Hence, the “Hurry only a few seats left”

sign on the movie theatre while making a booking

online. The customer who is confused whether he/she

wants to watch this movie or which theatre is better in

the given list, suddenly sees this sign flashing on one

such option, say PVR Rivoli. He/she must now be


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thinking that since so many people have already booked

the tickets, this must be a good movie and PVR Rivoli

would be a good theatre to watch this movie in. Thus,

the marketer has been successful in converting a

confused potential customer to a not-so-confused

current customer without giving him/her any offer,

discount or reward. How ethical is this? Well as long as

it is true, people can argue that it is only to provide

complete information to the customer to allow him/her

to make a more informed choice. Nothing wrong with

that argument!

Let us consider a scene of the supermarket in your

locality. A customer wants to buy his/her favorite cream

biscuits, Choco Fills Dark Fantasy from ITC. These are

premium biscuits with one of the highest per unit cost

to the customer in the market. As the owner of this

supermarket and as brand manager of this product

from ITC, you have to take a decision of where you will

place this product on a three-layered shelf? Will you

keep it on the top, the bottom or the middle layer?

If you are thinking of the top layer, as it would be more

visible and would lead to higher sales, then you are

talking in terms of usability. You want to make the

product easily visible to the customer who can easily

reach it and in turn put it in his shopping basket. But

what if the locality is of customers who are price

conscious? This customer will look at your product and

keep it back after glancing at its MRP while pretending

to read the ingredients. So what would you do? You

would target the customer indirectly through his/her

kid who also likes your product. So you keep Choco fills

in the bottom or middle layer. Now the kid will reach

out for the pack and put it in the basket. From here

there are two scenarios –

Scenario 1 - The parent wouldn’t mind as the kid really

wants the biscuit and for his/her happiness would end

up buying the product.

Scenario 2 - The parent would keep the pack back in the

shelf and scold the kid. The kid will use “Pester Power”,

cry and scream to ensure his/her demands are met, and

like a weak company giving into the demands of the

labor union, embarrassed parent would have to give

into the kid’s demands and buy the biscuits. You are,

therefore, successful in making the customer buy your

product.

In another example, a customer wants to book a ticket

from Kozhikode to Delhi on makemytrip.com. As he

clicks on the search flights option, he will be shown a

number of options. As a member and supporter of the

usability cult, you would never show sold out flights as

the user would have no use of them. How does it

matter to the user if a flight has been sold out? And

your question would be answered by the “persuasive”

opponent which would say that a sold out flight shows

the trust customers place in those Airlines. So in the

clutter of the options now available, the customer

chooses another flight of the same company or would

choose this one the next time he wants to book a ticket.

So the question is, would you be a Rahul Dravid and go

by the book, make yourself better at every instance and

expect people to praise you, or would you be a

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and experiment, be creative,

catch the eye of the people and command the respect

that you deserve? Well, this question will haunt the

marketers in the years to come where they will fight

this battle of usability and persuasiveness. So just sit

back and enjoy as the marketers fight for some space in

your mind.


6

14


JugaaD - The Indian way of doing

things

By Karan Agrawal, Kriti Dua

Great Lakes institute of Management,

Chennai Class of 2013

"It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we

have to do what's required."

- Sir Winston Churchill

Jugaad is slang for a Punjabi word "Jugaat" which has

its root in the Sanskrit word "Yukti", implying,

improvising an effective solution to a

problem using limited available resources.

The phenomenon of Jugaad has

effortlessly made way into our daily lives

and is leaving a very strong impression on

our existence. At times, it’s not the panacea

that we look for, but an immediate and innovative

solution that may fulfill the cause. Yes, it is this

‘Jugaad way of life’ that we all are thriving in.

‘Here a little, there a little’ has kept the ball

rolling.

‘Jugaad’ in marketing ranges from fixing a

spoiled brand image to enhancing the life

of a product; from launching new product

to establishing a strong brand position, within

the scantiest of the available resources. With

innovation as its backbone, this eternal

phenomenon is holding its ground in the Indian

market today. Formulating methods that

bend rules, perplex minds, mold

resources, stretch imaginations, tantalize

tastes, blur thoughts, bewilder minds and

yet successfully delight customers and

leave a lasting impression. This phenomenon

has been flourishing for decades and is now

becoming an inevitable part of our system.

The Indian consumers generally appreciate the

simplicity of the product, ease of use, care

free handling and customizable features.

Marketers who have understood the

Indian consumer mind set have

delectably dwelled on this concept that is

vividly depicted in various

advertisement campaigns.

One of them that I recall is

a famous ‘Fevicol’

advertisement that used to

be screened a few years

back; it showed a bus

gliding slowly in a Rajasthani desert with people

precariously perched all over it — a usual sight in rural

India. The advertisement rightly captured the “jugaad”

and adjusting nature of Indians: accommodating more

number of people than the bus’ capacity with children,

youngsters, females, elderly and even a

cock – perched all over. With the

driver pacing slowly, mindful of the

passengers glued to the bus, they

ambled through the dirt paths like a

ship of the desert. It ended

with a ‘Fevicol - The

Ultimate Adhesive’ board at

the back of the bus

poignantly mocking at the

idiosyncrasies of everyday life

in India and depicting exceptional

adhesive ability of the product.

Jugaad has also been depicted in the

Film Industry. An example

that pops up in my mind is

the character Phunsuk

Wangdu played by Amir

Khan in the movie 3 Idiots. In

this movie, the director

Rajkumar Hirani has beautifully

connected with the common Indian

by portraying jugaads like using car

batteries to generate power for

an inverter and later using a

modified vacuum cleaner as

a suction pump for

delivering a baby. Also in

the movie we saw other

jugaads like a scooter motor used

as a grain - grinding machine. Such

innovative ideas helped a lot to

connect with the common audience.


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There have been instances where companies were able

to reduce their cost of producing goods significantly by

employing simple techniques while their competitors

squandered huge amounts. Some

desi Indian Jugaads are modes

of livelihood for thousands of

people throughout the country.

For instance, Indians have

modified an age old means of

transportation- ‘The bicycle’ in so

many ways that people earn their living

while moving from place to place using

these customized bikes. Some unique

occupations include sharpening

knives where a skilled person

moves door to door with a

grinding wheel mounted in

front of his bike whose rotation

is synchronized with the paddle

gear. Another use of the bicycle is

for the door to door sale of ice creams;

delivery of posts and couriers;

electricians with tool kit mounted on

one side of their bicycle ; running a

mobile repair shop etc. One of

the most popular usages is by

milkmen across the country

with bikes modified in such a

way that they are able to

balance large cans of milk and use

this modified bike to deliver milk door to

door easily.

Some Jugaads have even led to new

ventures that are flourishing in

various parts of India. For

Example, VadaPav was a jugaad

as the Indian version of Burger.

This concept was used by an

MBA couple Dheeraj Gupta and

Reeta Gupta to start a new chain for

Vada Pavs : “Jumbo King”. The cheap

and hygienic Vada Pavs from jumbo king

have become very popular in such a way

that the company now has over 30 outlets.

This Bottom-Up Approach enabled them win Awards

like ‘Innovative Franchisee model’ and ‘New Concept

Franchising’ in March, 2007.

The Hawala Market that had been legal for a long time

until recent times is another great example of Jugaad.

Using this method, the poor were able to move money

across different geographical locations in a faster

and cheaper way than the formal banking

system.

Apart from these jugaads, we Indians have

also managed to apply innovative ideas to

make simplify various cumbersome

tasks. For example, there was a huge

waiting list in a train for the Railway

ticket. It seemed almost impossible

to obtain a confirmed reservation

for my travel. At this moment, I came

across a broker who stated that he would get

me a confirmed ticket if I pay him some

‘convenience allowance’, and to my surprise,

on that same evening, the broker was able

to provide me with a confirmed

ticket. Out of curiosity, I asked him

how he managed to get the ticket to

which he replied that this was only

because of his influence owing to

contacts with the right people.

Another such incident is when I went to get

my license made. The authorities said that it

would take almost 20 days to get my license.

In this case also, I came across a person

who was able to make my license

within 2 hours. This was also due to

his jugaad with the authorities at

the RTO office. These kinds of

jugaads, although unethical, have

thrived for long in India. Such kinds of

jugaads prove very helpful sometimes but

might be a pain for those who do not have

access to it.

This tells us of the great survival skills

that we Indians have perfected over

time. Jugaad is increasingly being

used to achieve low cost yet large-

scale solutions to the unfulfilled

needs of many in the country. Jugaad

not only is a low-cost product, it's a mind-set

of the people who come up with the new ideas and how

big companies can learn and adapt from them.


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Strategic analysis

Shopping ka naya address!

A complete analysis of the marketing

strategy of Flipkart

Ram Krishn Pande

Institute of Management, NIRMA

University

After seeing its recent success in Indian e- commerce

sector calling it as India’s

Amazon is no exaggeration.

A company which is run by

operating the mantra ‘Don't

count your customers

before they smile' is

redefining the experiences

and perception of Indian

populace towards e-

retailing by providing

impeccable services. Yes, I

am talking about Flipkart.

The concept of e-commerce

is becoming acceptable by

the Indian consumer at a

fairly rapid pace. With

Indian internet users

reaching the mark of 150

million by Dec 2012 (IMRB report), Indian e-retailers are

continuously strategizing to capture the 7 billion dollar

e–commerce market in India. With the slew of smart

phones powering

their users with

internet

connectivity e-

commerce has

brighter prospects.

Possibly founders

of Flipkart, Sachin

Bansal and Binny

Bansal envisaged

these future trends

and thus gave form

to their dream in

October 2007 with an initial investment of mere 4 lacs

and turned it into an organization churning revenue of

INR 500 crore by FY 2011-12 and expected to grow to

5000 crore by 2015.

As e-retailing involves delivery of services as well as

product it will be significant to analyze Flipkart under

the framework of 7 Ps of service marketing.

Product:

In its initial two years Flipkart

focused on selling only

books through its online

portal. Basic reasons for

focusing only on books

were:

1. As most of the

books are not expensive,

the money spent on the

first transaction and get

firsthand experience of

services is low and within

the budget of user.

2. With easy

procurement it’s easy to

transmit and store books.

3. Books provide

healthy margin.

After two years it further expanded its gamut by

successfully offering CDs & DVDs, mobile phones,

consumer electronics, healthcare and beauty products

and more

recently Flyte-

its digital music

library.

In its operations

Flipkart focused

on delivering

delight to

customers at

any cost.

Delights are

delivered by

wide range of

productolysis markathon|november 2012

9

14


product lines, timely delivery, easy payment options like

cash on delivery/card on delivery, unquestioned return

policy. These added benefits won over two million

skeptical Indians.

Price:

In this sector, with the presence of large number of e –

retailers, pricing is a deal clincher. Thus Flipkart keeps

its price at very competitive levels. Through its price

optimization by implementing best supply chain

mechanism and managing manpower and time spent by

them in handling an order, Flipkart is able to offer

competitive price with customer satisfaction. Still

Flipkart believes that discounts can’t replace the

customer's satisfaction of being serviced promptly and

efficiently.

Promotion:

Indian consumer who is very skeptical in paying money

for something which he/she has not seen and received

posed a great challenge for e-retailers to write their

success stories. As Flipkart is the first mover, it needed

to battle against these demons of e-commerce itself.

Flipkart which initially relied only on word of mouth

publicity and social media has now gone out with a full-

fledged strategy to manage this missing trust in Indian

masses for e-retailers. Through its testimonial

marketing campaign “Don't shop, Flipkart it!” it

attempts to popularize the brand name as a verb and

trying to remove misconception about e-retail from

Indian users.

So far, Flipkart addressed target group that had already

shopped online and was aware about its nuances.

Through the campaign 'Don't shop, Flipkart it!' and “No

kidding No worries” “Shopping ka naya address” it

targeted two categories of people:

1. Those who were familiar with online

transactions for tickets on sites like IRCTC and

travel sites, but were not shopping for physical

goods.

2. People who were skeptical about

transacting online.

Place:

Flipkart has their delivery service across India

supported by the presence of warehouses.

Recent acquisition of Letsbuy.com further

strengthened its presence across India. It has

less than 24 hours delivery lag in few cities.

Moreover due to tie ups with local vendors it

helps them avoid octroi charges.

People:

With its 4500 employees Flipkart is generating

unique experiences with its consumers. By

developing Flipkart logistics, it delivers through

its own courier company and delivery boys.

These personnel are trained and thus while

delivering, they maintain a certain level of

service standards while most of the other e-

retailers use services of courier companies


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14


whose serving capabilities are always questionable. As

delivery boy is a touch point for recipient, Flipkart

scores on this criterion.

Customer care executives are trained to take spot

decisions, address customer concerns and reassure

customers that Flipkart has their best interests at heart.

Process:

Since its inception Flipkart paid great attention towards

improving its processes. In its initial years Flipkart

worked on consignment model where goods were

procured from suppliers on demand, but with increase

in demand and to manage various issues involved with

delivery it shifted to warehouse model by forming

Flipkart logistics. Warehouse model ensures efficient

and quick delivery. At present around 70-80 % of total

demand at Flipkart is fulfilled through its own network.

Physical evidence:

Flipkart tries to tangibilize its services by providing user

friendly web interface which makes it convenient to

use, browse through the products, add products to a

cart, get product reviews and opinions, pre-order

products, and make payments using different methods.

These experiences add to the customer satisfaction and

thus generate loyal customers. According to Flipkart,

out of total purchasers 70-80% are repeat purchasers.

Bottom line of Flipkart is still red. To ensure support and

faith of its investors it needs to attain breakeven point

as soon as possible.

Big challenge for Flipkart is to maintain and enhance

brand value it generated in its five years of operations.

Though current spree of reforms have excluded FDI in e-

commerce. But by seeing the trends, FDI in this sector

seems next reform story in upcoming years. Thus

Flipkart must be ready to face giants like Amazon.com.

As e-commerce sector in India is now cluttered with the

presence of large number of players like yebhi.com,

snapdeal.com, jungle.com, Flipkart needs to produce

unique value proposition for its consumers which can

differentiate it from others.

Conclusion:

Indian e-commerce market has huge potential for

growth, and so is the risk of failure. E-retailers that

present themselves with unique, innovative and

seamless services before skeptical Indian consumers are

bound to succeed but at the same time they also have

to keep an eye on their bottom line. Easier said than

done, it’s clearly a double edged sword. Till now Indian

e-commerce leader Flipkart is sailing well, but it is yet to

be seen how long it will succeed to generate delighted

“Flipkarters” and enjoy brand leadership with “No

kidding and No worrying”.


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cover story | Google+ : A Challenger to facebook dominance markathon|september 2012

The world around is cluttered with news of Google+ and

Facebook; questioning and analyzing which of these is

going to be the future of social media. That is something

we don't know about yet but here we try to critically

analyze the background behind this ongoing debate.

Facebook, since its inception in 2004, has contributed a

lot in making people accept the need for a networking

platform. It has lately become a phenomenon and has

recorded a whopping 1 billion active monthly user base

by October 2012, which is just 8 years after its

inception. Numerous attempts to question its position

have all gone in vain. But with the entry of Google+, the

world is looking forward to what can be a landmark in

the field of social media innovation. These two

behemoths are working towards revolutionizing the

way the world connects. But to totally appreciate what

each has to offer, it is vital to understand where each

stands today and how it has reached there!!

Facebook: The journey begins!

The very journey taken by Facebook shows the reasons

as to why and how it survived through the testing times.

which addressed the basic need of college students to

connect better with their peers. Alongside is a snapshot

of what “The Facebook” catered to. The platform was

open only to universities and then spread to other high

schools in 2005.

The result of this was something which became the

cornerstone for the survival and growth of Facebook.

Targeting youth, who are the early adopters worked

well for it. Concentrating on university students

resulted in a healthy mix of users, in terms of gender. As

the fairer gender started uploading photos and sharing

other personal information, it gave enough reason for

others to spend more

time on the platform. This was the basic idea behind

Facebook: to increase customer engagement not

through 'navigation search' but through sharing. When

it became open to all users in September 2006, the

initial ground work done laid a strong foundation. The

next move was to focus on increasing engagement

among its users which it did fabulously.

2004 - 2006 : Facebook’s First Look

Engagement:

Sensing that the engagement was vital for the survival

of any social media site, it initiated a number of things

like:

It added a very innovative option to create applications

in 2006. This inherently provided free promotion to the

applications, which was an incentive for more

developers to come on board. Once the applications

increased, the time users spent on the site was also

enhanced.

Personalization of accounts was introduced. A lot of

new services like Newsfeed, Timeline have been

introduced time and again on the platform

Also, as the number of active authentic users on

Facebook increased, companies started coming on

board to tap their potential customers. Once the users

started investing so much time on the site, companies

began spending a lot of marketing budgets on the

online platform.

This combined effort of companies' in enhancing

engagement of customers and increased user

willingness to share data resulted in a model which

today is beneficial to all stakeholders and thereby

complete in itself. Since the beginning, the firm has

cover story | Google+ : A challenger to Facebook dominance markathon|november 2012

13


been

based

around people. A snap shot of its journey tells us what

has helped it build such a strong base

Inspite of such a robust model, there are some points of

concern for Facebook, which is why players like Google+

are being looked at:

Older people: The platform as mentioned has users

with an average age of 38 years and why is that? Coz

of the increasing presence of our families right from

our parents to long lost uncles. This inherently

makes it a place to be wary about than being “open”

for many.

Opt out: Every additional service it launched was

opt-out and not opt-in. This means that when a

service like News feed is introduced, it is

automatically activated on all user accounts. A user,

if wishes to, can disable the service, i.e., opt-out.

This attracted a lot of controversies with time and

the users at one point in time went on strike against

Facebook regarding news feed and the issues

surrounding it.

All in one: The question on one's willingness to

speak/interact/share with everyone one meets, is in

question. The platform is not very suitable for

managing customized information share with friends

and peers, which has resulted in Facebook's privacy

woes

Companies Promotion: Firms' advertisements and

getting unnecessary information bothers many

users. Though Facebook has tried to control the

same, as ads become a strong revenue source,

conflicts of interests are bound to arise.

These reasons give a clue that there can be a platform

which is more user-friendly and customized to the

changing needs of the customer but are we ready to let

go of the humongous amount of time and effort we

have invested on the site is a question we can answer

only with time! But before we go on, let us see the

reason why Google+ has recorded 200 million users in

just one year and whether it is here to stay!


14


Google joins the bandwagon

With the mission “to organize the world's information

and make it universally accessible and useful”, Google

set out in 1998 as a Knowledge Company (they still very

much are, helping generations in their school projects).

Their most potent weapon “search”, has helped them

become what they are today – a billion dollar company

with consistent laurels by various rating agencies like

being one of the top 3 visited sites of the world. It isn't a

brainer to figure out “what do they gain out of

providing free search to common people like you and

me?” Yes, it is advertising with the UVP of better strike

rate as people like us increasingly use google search and

its other services and shows our preferences. So how

exactly is Facebook a threat to Google and not just

google plus. Google in its way realized that although

“search” is an awesome space to be if you have an

incredibly brilliant algorithm “PageRank” but there is

one thing that can beat this algorithm, and that is

“people”. Now if we see that almost the entire

population on earth that has an internet connection is

on Facebook, an algorithm that was once a competitive

advantage can suddenly become weak. But then we all

know that an equal number of people, in fact more, are

already using its search services along many others.

Authentic and increasingly precise customer insights is

what any web based advertising company aims for, and

Facebook tends to be in a better position because of its

model.

The main advantage of Facebook is that unlike on other

platforms, including Google; users give authentic

information because of its inherent nature of service

that focusses on “making people stay connected and

share their lives with real people they know”. This along

with the behavioral pattern of users on Facebook helps

in better understanding of the psychographics which

any company would want from an advertising platform.

This made Google realize the need of a social plugin in

their already existing claim of “understanding people

for marketers” to stay relevant in the increasingly

connected world. This led to attempts like Buzz with

little to show which was followed by Google Plus which

has started to pick predominantly among netizens and

has shown some promise.

As logical as any market entry strategy can be, Google

launched Google Plus with features that were either not

present in Facebook or in some way not addressed. Let

us understand Google Plus's attempt to come up with a

better solution.

What's in Store for us: The positioning of Google Plus is

more of a knowledge based social platform where

people interact and connect based on their passion or

interests rather than simply connecting to friends of

friends, proved by the fact that initial adopters are

more of tech savvy netizens. This along with the fact

that most of our family circles are already on facebook

satisfied with their connectivity needs, the average age

for personal usage groups that gets attracted remains

under 30 at least for now. Circles in Google plus may

not be the next “wall” but it definitely goes a long way

in managing way in a much secure manner compared to

what is on offer by Facebook. Especially after realizing

that it is not easy to manage thousands of friends we all

have made on facebook, circles from the start gives the

user an opportunity to classify our friends in circles

based on any criteria we choose, breaking the level of

interaction in different customized levels. Circles on one

hand has tried to address the privacy concerns by

simplifying management of our connections, Hangouts

on the other hand is a unique feature that tries to

become a differentiator of sorts. It would be interesting

to see how many of Skype users use this added

functionality but it definitely is a plus to have a multi


15


video chat option on the same social media platform,

not to mention its interoperability among other

services.

What's in store for the marketers?

Today when especially Facebook among many others is

faced with a conflict of interest with its very own users

in terms of pushing them with ads, Circles has shown a

promise of becoming a winner. Experienced marketers

know that any list into which their followers opt-in is far

more valuable than any message pushed at them. This

is why opt-in email lists still have the best conversion

rates compared to other outreach methods. It's just

that creating a

real time opt-in

list is easier said

than done. But

Google Plus with

its interest based circles

as its core; brands have

an opportunity of

classifying their

followers

(subscribers)

based on their preferences

onto lists (circles) they want to be, in a way they “opt-

in” to be. So, the Brands have a guaranteed receptive

audience for those posts, and the recipients have a

better feeling toward you because they are getting

what they want from you. Win Win! And as far as

hangouts there have been lots of intuitive uses

suggested by multiple people, one being video

conferencing in offices among many others. Apart from

these benefits the most important benefit brands would

be to have a chance to figure in that coveted “Google's

1st search page” if it has a substantial +1s to its credit.

We wonder whether SEO firms would be given a run for

their money!! Everything said and done Google Plus's

journey is not going to be easy despite having clocked

the fastest growth of any social media in its very first

year. Increasing first time adopters and time spent on

G+ will be the two key issues that it faces given that it

has come up with a competitive product. And Google

understands that better than anyone given it increasing

focus on promotion to early adopters - the youth.

Google+: How is it making itself heard!

Not many players can be serious contenders to threaten

the established place of Facebook in Social Media. But

Google+ has an inherent advantage of a network

integrated with the every-day life of billions of people

around the world which forms the first leg of its

creating awareness about its new offering. On site

promotions includes various Google+ campus

engagement programs being conducted across schools

to increase its presence.

Are they really competitors?!

By the looks and the approach both have

adopted it looks that there is a world out

there where both Google+ and Facebook

can coexist, for their offerings are not

supplementary. Google+ has come up

with hangouts, circles and much more

but how many of the users would give

up their heavily-invested efforts on Facebook

to be a part of Google+ is always debatable.

Presented below is a gist of how the two

platforms cater to different needs:

Google+ aims to enhance the

user privacy by giving filtered content sharing

mechanisms (In the form of circles), while

Facebook's mission is to make the world more

“open” and connected

Google+ believes in “navigation search” to keep

users engaged, while Facebook believes in sharing

among friends, family, peers, etc.

Google+ is more about gaining knowledge and

pursuing interests as you have dedicated circles

while Facebook is a perfect place to login in your

free time and is more inclined towards

entertainment

All in all, these are two platforms work on very different

philosophies. Each promises to keep you connected to

your network but the world around you will be different

with each of these platforms. A startup within 8 years

from its inception has been successful in making more

than 1 billion people connect and share….let us see

what a behemoth like Google has in store for us!


16

An Interview with Prof. Trichy Krishnan

Associate Professor and Vice-Dean, National University of Singapore

Markathon: From Ashok Leyland to NUS, it must have

been an exciting journey for you so far. Which was your

most favourite part of the journey? Why?

Mr. Trichy: I would say it is my PhD student life in The

University of Texas at Dallas with my advisers Professors

Frank M. Bass and Ram C. Rao. For one, the research

angle and discipline that I got exposed to dazed me

because I had by that time well settled in the role of an

automobile engineer working in the field and looking at

solving the day-to-day problems. I never had time or

guidance to look at the marketing issues we faced in

Ashok Leyland from a marketing-researcher

perspective. My automobile engineer life and the PhD

were poles apart, although in both I was basically

working on marketing issues. After that initial novelty

effect wore off, it took some time for me to settle in the

PhD setting but both my professors helped me a lot in

that process after I showed some promise with my first

summer paper. Looking back, I would say that I was

impressed and continue to be influenced greatly by

Franks’ gut feel to identify and unearth research issues

and spot the solutions and Ram’s clear thinking in not

just laying out the research issues in black & white but

also in the process he sets about to solving them. Of

course, I have to confess that when I took to

researching in new product diffusion the area was no

longer new. It had by that time matured and looked

more like a sunset research area lacking in market

appeal, but till date I have not regretted my decision,

vartalaap markathon|november 2012

17

Professor Krishnan, Trichy is the

Associate Professor and Vice-

Dean at National University of

Singapore. He has done extensive

research and published articles on

a wide range of topics from

loyalty programs to pricing

strategies. Having completed his

B.E. in Mechanical Engineering

from Madras University and MA

and PhD from university of Texas,

he himself has received many

awards for teaching.

partly because I really love that area and partly because

my works have played a significant role in reviving

research in that area.

Markathon: Do you think innovative pricing strategies

like decoy effect or mid level pricing actually work on

the consumers?

Mr. Trichy: Of course, they do. Although sometimes

consumers knowingly and perhaps willingly fall into that

“trap” because these marketing tactics offer an easy

way out for consumers to make a decision and help

them justify the purchasing decision ex-post rather

quickly. However, when the decision involves higher

involvement goods, the decoy pricing will have almost

no impact while the mid-level pricing will have some

residual impact. Clearly, in B2B markets, they will have

relatively much lower, if not zero, impact.

Markathon: There is a lot of debate on the relevance of

customer loyalty programs? Is it a cost or an

investment? Does it alienate great prospective

customers? What is your stand on it?

Mr. Trichy: Yes, Loyalty Programs have not been

unambiguously shown to be a profitable program and,

in fact, we have shown through a theoretical research

work that it is possible for one firm to remain more

profitable by not offering loyalty program when facing a

competitor offering such a program. Setting up and

running a loyalty program is quite expensive. Further,

because it pushes up the expectation level of those

loyal-consumers companies end up spending more $$

to monitor and manage the service experience. This is

because when things fail, loyal-consumers tend to make

much more noise than non-loyal consumers. It is also

true that when the airlines and retailers initiate loyalty

programs to offer enhanced service experience or price-

off for loyal-consumers they sometimes inadvertently

let the system “ignore” others which amounts to

affecting negatively the experience of the non-loyal

consumers. Some retail grocery stores in the US offer

shelf-price reductions but say “available only to card-

holders”; while these “open discrimination” may

enhance the shopping experience of the card-holders,

others might get offended and even might feel they are

subsidizing the card-holders. This frustration could

manifest into bigger problems if those general

consumers happen to be high paying customers as well

who expect high quality of service that is

commensurate with the high price they pay. In the case

of Hal Brierley, there is an added twist. He was not a

general consumer but one who had got used to the

“loyal” treatment by AA, and so his expectations were

much higher than a general consumer. In fact, in case of

Alliance Network in the airlines industry, it has been

reported that loyal-consumers of one airlines carrier

feel less served by the partner airlines. I am currently

involved with a research work that shows why this is

likely to happen.

Markathon: What is the significance of diffusion models

in marketing? What is their relevance in today’s

context?

Mr. Trichy: Diffusion had its day in the 1970s and 80s,

lost its charm in the late 80s and 1990s, and has picked

up some momentum back as it has become increasingly

possible to analyze the adoption behavior at the

individual consumer level. One reason for this trend is

the emergence of new, powerful econometric

methodologies that have enabled researchers to

quantitatively analyze consumer behavior at micro-level

(ex: scanner data analysis), garner new insights (ex:

differences in consumer responses to marketing mix),

and seek applications in new areas (ex: empirical IO).

These econometric methods are now currently finding

their way into the diffusion research, and so we will see

more interest in this diffusion area as well. Further, the

recent phenomena such as growth of two-sided online

platforms and viral marketing are piquing the interest of

researchers, and we might see new developments soon.

Of course, as long as new product development retains

its position as the main strategy of companies to grow

and get more profitable, diffusion as a research area

will continue to stay relevant. But, how we develop new

diffusion models and how we do analysis to deliver new

insights that are useful to practicing managers will be

the determining factors eventually.

Markathon: Your paper on the bass diffusion modeling

was selected for the 1994 John D.C. Little Best Paper

18


Students should think

deeply and read widely

to understand the

various linkages and

networks that influence

and affect new business

models and practices.

Award. Can you share some of the insights from the

paper with our readers?

Mr. Trichy: The Bass diffusion model which was

published in 1969 offered a refreshingly new method,

i.e. quantitative method, to look at common marketing

issues such as impact of WOM in sales growth and

forecasting of new product sales. But it didn’t have any

followers for the next 7 years until in 1975 two

researchers from Kodak company used that model to

explain how a company could use that forecasting tool

to dynamically set their prices

(i.e. pricing over time) to get

higher profits than those

achievable with the then-

prevalent pricing methods

such as cost plus or

myopic pricing. This

spurred a great amount

of interest in the field

and in the following

15 to 20 years, many

researchers all over

the world started

producing modified Bass model to explain diffusion in

various settings. When I started working on my first

summer paper with Frank Bass, what I saw in the extant

literature on diffusion shocked me because in spite of

all those 20 years of development there was not a single

convincing evidence to show that the marketing mix

elements were also actually playing a role in the

diffusion, along with the WOM. I started working in that

direction but could not make much headway except for

a few sparks here and there. Then we realized that the

normal approach would not work. So, we turned around

our query and asked ourselves the following. Previous

researchers ought to have tried to solve this obvious

mystery but apparently could not solve, and what could

be the reason? After a few trials and tribulations, we

realized that the “time” variable used in the Bass model

was somehow accounting for the omitted variables such

as price and advertising! Ex-post it looks easy to

understand but it was a tough nut to crack that time.

Going further, we reasoned that such a correlation

between time and other variables was made possible

because those variables were moving “linearly” with

time. At the same time when Frank and I were working

along this dimension, Dipak Jain at Kellogg (now dean at

INSEAD), who is also a Frank Bass student a few years

senior to me, was trying to solve that same issue using

the econometrics technique he had employed earlier in

FMCG context. So, we three started working together

and eventually came up with the 1994 paper. What I

learnt from this experience is that while sometimes a

solution to a problem is sort of easy to understand ex-

post, the process of coming

up with that “easy” solution

is all but easy.

Markathon: Are there any

upcoming trends in marketing

which students should be aware

of?

Mr. Trichy: Clearly, online

marketing and the influence of

online channel on the marketing

issues are going to become much

more critical within the next few

years. However these are still evolving,

and what seems to be working one day is found wanting

on many aspects within a few months (ex: Groupon)

and so it is very important that students put their focus

to identifying the few stable and underlying processes

and build upon them. This is easier told than actually

done. Students should think deeply and read widely to

understand the various linkages and networks that

influence and affect new business models and practices.

Another area is B2B, which has not got its due attention

in marketing literature for lack of reliable data. A third

area is to explore the differences in marketing issues in

Asia, especially China and India, vis-à-vis those in the

western markets and see how one can tackle them.

Note that most of the research ideas have been

developed with the western consumer and markets in

focus, and things might be different when Asian

consumers are involved.


19

war zone | eye 2 eye markathon | june 2011

With Samsung and Apple starting it again, does

comparative advertising help increase business?

marketing arena where competition is at its peak today.

What Samsung and Apple are involved now is a similar

campaign to gain individual mileage and supremacy over

the smart phones and tablet computer market which

they wish to control and dominate in the future.

Comparative advertising would work only if the

comparisons portrayed are factual, accurate and capable

of substantiation. Any incorrect representation or

denigrating experience portrayed could lead to serious

damage to the advertiser and back-fire the advertising

brand, as clearly evident in the Reebok Pump ad case of

early 1990’s. In a few countries, comparisons are still

seen as inappropriate, and therefore should be avoided.

Several surveys have proven that comparative ads also

work when the competitor’s name is not directly

disclosed. These ads are easier for the consumers to

understand and are more persuasive for viewers.

Comparative advertising could be effectively used in

categories where benefits are rational and there is no

direct effect on the emotional state of the consumer. As

witnessed in the recent The Hindu vs Times of India

case, the results of comparative advertising were

positive as both The Hindu and Times of India registered

impressive increase for this year in the Indian

Readership Survey results released earlier this month.

Comparative advertising has evolved to stay and

presents an effective option for brands such as Apple

and Samsung to create a distinctive image to its

consumers in today’s competitive market.

Comparative advertising is like walking a thin line

between ethical and unethical practices. It’s easier

to poke holes into competitor’s product than

bringing your product up to the market expectation

level. Calling names to competitor’s product might

give a temporary fillip to a brand at start but it might

also end up degrading the company’s goodwill and

status in the market. This may lead to grave

consequences for any business in terms of

embarrassment and reputation loss, apart from the

likely damages paid to the disgruntled competitor.

If the loyalty of rival’s consumers is questioned,

comparative advertising might even bomb. Within

hours of Samsung’s ad being featured, Apple fans

mocked it and listed all the features that Samsung

had (intentionally!) forgotten. In the Rin Vs Tide ad,

the targeted brand -Tide was visible for almost 75%

of the ad time. Does it make sense to expose users

to your brand rivals even if has been done in an

attempt to prove your products superiority? It’s not

prudent to wake up a strong competitor and

challenge it openly; the targeted company might get

the benefit of being the poor victim of blatant

advertising.

Competitive advertising might seem pragmatic, but

trying desperately to shoot a competitor from a

point blank range by comparing to it directly might

not be a good decision for any company to increase

business.

Topic for the next issue’s Eye to Eye: “Should Tatas have used the name Tata Starbucks instead of

Starbucks in order to leverage the Tata coffee brand?”

Your opinion (view/counterview) is invited. Word limit is 250-300. Last date of sending entries is

18th November, 2012. Include your picture (JPEG format) with the entry.

Pavan Kumar R

BIM,Trichy

Comparative advertising is an

extension of competitive based

positioning strategy that helps a

company compare the benefits

and value it offers to a customer

compared to its rivals. Often

used in politics to project wrong-

doings of opposition parties, this

technique has spread out to the

Human beings are born

while crying for attention,

and the same holds true for

advertising. Often the cut

throat competition between

businesses manifests into

comparative advertising. But

the question is, at what cost

are the companies indulging

into it?

“Co

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ad

vert

isin

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as

evo

lved

to

sta

y a

nd

pre

sen

ts a

n e

ffec

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or

bra

nd

s”

“Often

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etition

betw

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esses ma

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to co

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ara

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vertising

.”

20

Abhinav Barnwal

SPJIMR, Mumbai

war zone | eye 2 eye markathon | november 2012

war zone | silent voice markathon | april 2012

15

NEXT THEME FOR SILENT VOICE: “Launch of Starbucks in India”

LAST DATE OF SENDING THE PRINT AD: 18th November, 2012 EMAIL ID: [email protected]

Send your entry in JPEG format named as SilentVoice_<Your Name>_<Institute>only.

Silent Voice

LAST MONTH’S RESULTS

Theme: “Maruti Alto 800”

WINNER: RAHUL JHUNJHUNWALA | XIMB

Congratulations!!!Rahul receives a cash prize of Rs 500!

Rakesh Marar & Aditi Sharma | Prin.L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai

HONORARY MENTION

war zone | silent voice markathon | november 2012

21


specials | ADdicted markathon | january 2012

RODUCT: Renault Scala

POSITIONING: Yeh Dosti hum nahi chhodenge

AD AGENCY: Law & Kenneth, India

YouTube Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BhdUk0emhY

CONCEPT:

The TVC presents how a not so famous kid in school

became an eye candy among his fellow mates and

was taken care of, for each and everything. Right

from being given a favourite dish at the canteen to

inviting him over for a game of cricket in the

predefined group, the boy gets it all, hoping to get a

ride someday in the Renault Scala, from which they

had noticed the boy stepping out.

VERDICT:

Catch/Miss- Catch

A very apt background score to use, with the Yeh

dosti hum nahi chhodenge, the ad brings back the

happy friendship line of thought, giving a good

positive start to the ad and also delivering the

concept very aptly. Added to it, the ad, in a musical

format is very well aimed at using the emotional side

of viewers with the innocence of school kids and their

desire to sit in the Renault Scala which makes them

friends with another person. All in all, a sweet and

different perspective of marketing a car through more

emphasis on emotions rather than features. It is

indeed time to step up!

Ad-dicted

Umang Kulshrestha | IIM S GSN Aditya | iim s

PRODUCT: Maggi Atta noodles

POSITIONING: “2-minute mein Khushiyan”

CREATIVE AGENCY: Publicis Capital, India

YouTube Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBoroS2Ybjw

CONCEPT:

“2 minutes” has been the core of Maggi’s value

proposition since inception. Maggi has taken it one

step further by launching the “Meri Maggi - 2-minute

mein Khushiyan” campaign. Maggi invited entries

from its consumers to describe how Maggi delivered

happiness to them within 2 minutes. And voila you

have the Big-B walking into one such unsuspecting

household to describe how a little kid helped save the

pride of the “ladki wale” (bride’s family) by serving

“Maggi Atta noodles” to the baraati (bridegroom’s

family)

VERDICT:

Catch/Miss- Miss

Not only is the scene over the top and silly, it also

looks obviously fabricated. The campaign as such has

the potential to be a winning campaign if executed

properly. And at a time where Nestle’s leadership

position is under fire from the likes of ITC, Nestle

badly needs a winning campaign. Maggi as such is

known for its simplicity. The campaign should have

instead focused on the simpler things in life and how

Maggi makes them better.

specials | ADdicted markathon | november 2012

22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BhdUk0emhY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBoroS2Ybjw

specials | radical thoughts markathon | may 2012

Yash Chopra – Not just the king of romance

Piyush agarwal | IIM S

Yash Chopra took his last breath on October 21, 2012 in

Mumbai’s Lilavati hospital. The legendary

director/producer's demise is being mourned by the

whole country and is being considered as the end of an

era for Indian cinema. He is widely regarded as the ‘King

of Romance’ and known most popularly for giving us

masterpieces like Kabhi Kabhie, Silsila, Chandni, Lamhe,

Veer Zara in that genre, but in his long spanning career

of 5 decades, the man always chose to take the road

less travelled.

Born on 27 September 1932 in Lahore in a Punjabi

family, Yash Chopra was the youngest of 8 children. He

was the younger brother of producer and director BR

Chopra. He started off as a film journalist but his

passion for filmmaking took him to the Mayanagari

(Mumbai).

His first directorial venture was ‘Dhool ka Phool’ way

back in 1959, which tells the story of a Muslim man

raising an illegitimate Hindu child. One needs a whole

lot of confidence and sensitivity to address such an

issue and Yash Chopra had plenty of both, which he

demonstrated all through his career. The movie was a

success and the man never turned back from here.

His next venture was the National award winning

‘Dharmaputra’ with dealt with issues like partition and

Hindu fundamentalism. Because of the highly political

nature of the movie, it was met with a lot of protests

and violence. During this period, he made a few other

movies all unique in their own way. Daag dealt with

issues like bigamy, Waqt was the first movie to start the

multi-starrer trend and then the first movie without any

songs or interval – Ittefaq. He was also one of the first

directors to film his movies in foreign locations such as

Switzerland and the UK.

In the year 1971, he parted ways with his brother BR

Chopra and created arguably the most successful

production house in India – Yash Raj Films. In this era,

he gave India “The Angry Young Man” through

groundbreaking movies such as Deewar and Trishul. He

is also the man responsible for immortalizing the

heroine in Indian cinema, in movies like Chandani –

Sridevi or Kabhi Kabhi – Rakhee. The man had an eye

for picking out talent and in the 90s, the ‘King of

romance’ introduced India to the man we popularly

know today as the ‘Badshah of Bollywood’ – Shah Rukh

Khan, by making the anti-hero popular in Hindi cinema

through movies like Darr, and forever changing his

career by giving him the lead role in what is considered

as the longest-running movie in Indian Cinema – Dilwale

Dulhania Le Jayenge.

Yash Chopra was not just the ‘King of Romance’, he was

a man who clearly had vision and a penchant for doing

what he believed in. Sir, you will be truly missed…RIP.

specials | radical thoughts markathon | november 2012

markathon | august 2012



23

24

specials | Fun Corner markathon|september 2012

2012

Fun corner

Rushika Sabnis | IIM S

ACROSS 1. The difference lies in our DNA

4. The best a man can get

6. Inspired Living

8. Don’t dream it. Drive it.

9. The World's Local Bank

10. Racing DNA Unleashed

11. Share moments, share life

12. Imagination at work (2 words)

13. On Time is a Wonderful Thing (2 words)

14. The Magazine of the Corporate World (2 words)

15. Good Food, Good Life

DOWN 1. Tan Ki Shakthi, Mann Ki Shakthi

2. Your Potential. Our Passion

3. We’re moving beyond documents

5. How many you have ?

7. American by birth. Rebel by choice. ( 2 words)

Across

1. Biocon

4. Gillette

6. Haier

8. Jaguar

9. HSBC

10. Apache

11. Kodak

12. GeneralElectric

13. IndigoAirlines

14. BusinessIndia

15. Nestle

DOWN 1. Bournvita

2. Microsoft

3. Xerox

5. Fastrack

7. HarleyDavidson

ANSWERS

24

specials | fun corner markathon|november 2012

2012

specials|fun corner markathon|september2012

2012

14

Name the brand/product/event with

which the following mascots are

associated with

1.

2.

.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

1. Michelin

2. Mr Clean

3. Sunfeast

4. 7 Up

5.ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

6. Linux

7. Lijjat papad

8. Quaker Oats

9. Asian Paints

10. Pillsbury

ANSWERS specials|fun corner markathon|november 2012

2012

25

14

Intra B school event | War of brands markathon|november 2012

2012

War of THE Brands

The intra collegiate event “War of the Brands” saw over 60 teams literally battling it out

in the world of Ambush last month. Here is the winning entry by Anoz Sethna and Keshav

of team “Brand it like Beckham”.

They win INR 4000 and certificates. Congratulations!!!

26

event | war of the brands markathon|november 2012

2012

specials | updates markathon | march 2012

BRAND LAUNCH

Alto 800 launched to carry forward the

legacy

After the near demise of Maruti 800 and long

pending makeover of Alto, Maruti Suzuki has finally

launched the awaited Alto 800 to carry the crown

of Alto which was the largest selling passenger

vehicle in the country for eight straight years. The

new Alto 800 is based on the same old platform

but is offering far better interiors along with sturdy

and nice exteriors. With 15% increase in the

mileage at the starting price of 2.44 lakhs Alto 800

seems to offer more value for its money and is set

to give tough competition to Tata Nano and

Hyundai Eon.

Dabur India relaunches “Thirty Plus”

brand

Dabur India, which had acquired ‘Thirty Plus’ brand

from Mumbai-based Ajanta Pharma last year, is

launching a product in its re-energised form. As the

name hints, the product is meant to target adults

with age greater that thirty. The company has

appointed Malaika Arora Khan as its brand

ambassador.

Hero Moto Corp launches its new brand

identity “Hero” in Nepal

In an effort to expand its global foot prints, Hero

Moto Corp has chosen Nepal as the first

international market to launch its new brand

identity. After the breakup of 26 years old

successful venture with Honda, Hero is vigilant in

its approach so that it does not lose market share

to Honda which is performing much better in

Indian two-wheeler segment.

New launches to boost automobile market

before Diwali

Two important launches in the utility vehicle

segment came this month with the introduction of

Tata Safari Storm and the much awaited Mahindra

SsangYong Rexton. The two cars are aggressively

priced at around 10 lakhs and 18 lakhs

respectively. Apart from this, enthusiasm is shown

by many other brands with the launch of Figo

facelift by Ford, Brio automatic by Honda and

Manza club class by Tata Motors.

BRAND WATCH

“Khushiyon ki home delivery” to “Yeh hai

Rishto ka time”

Domino’s has evolved a lot in its positioning since

its inception in 1996 in India. With “happiness”

becoming too generic, as around 30 companies use

happiness in their positioning like Coke Happiness

campaign, Nano’s “Khushiyon ki Chaabi”etc.,

Domino’s is targeting another best alternative

“Relations” to target its potential consumers.

Starbucks opens its first store in India

With the collaboration of Tata Global Beverages

with Starbucks, Starbucks has successfully entered

India and has opened its first store in Mumbai. The

locations for the stores are strategically chosen

keeping in mind the target customers, however

Starbucks is offering lowest price in India

compared to its Global price offering to tackle the

price sensitivity of Indian consumers at least in its

initial stage.

Interbrand to enter India early next year

The world’s largest brand consulting firm,

Interbrand is planning to set up its Indian operation

in January 2013. The brand strategy and design

consultancy arm of Mudra group, “Water” will be

turned in to Interbrand India. The company

specials | updates markathon | november 2012

27


considers understanding of Indian culture as its

biggest challenge to its local operations.

CCI serves notices to 17 car companies in

India

The anti-trust regulator, Competition Commission

of India charged 17 car companies for abuse of

their dominant position. The companies are

charged for anti-competitive and anti-consumer

welfare practices. According to CCI, companies are

rendering consumers with limited choices by

allowing exclusive market availability for auto parts

and tools, that too, at very exorbitant prices.

MEDIA

Tanishq’s ‘Mia on Wheels’ creates buzz in

Bangalore

Tanishq recently revealed its second collection of

Mia, the jewellery line designed for professional

women. To create a buzz around its product, they

have introduced a unique experiential marketing

campaign named “Mia on wheels”. Special

designer buses are arranged for two weeks to drive

working women to their place of work from

selected locations. Inside the bus these women are

offered services like massage, food and a chance to

try out new collection of the jewellery during their

travel.

Volkswagen, Eurobest’s best advertiser of

the Year

The brand which has won maximum number of

awards for its innovative branding exercises from

time to time has again won the best advertiser of

the year 2012 in Europe. Volkswagen, which has

earned this award, is Europe’s top and one of the

leading car makers in the world with many product

brands such as Beetle, Passat and Golf in its

portfolio.

P&G to target women through its branded

content website

The leading FMCG major, Proctor & Gamble has

collaborated with Yahoo and Mediacom to launch

an entertainment and custom branded website,

“Style factor” to target tech savvy women across

three countries including India, Indonesia and

Philippines. The website is expected to showcase

entertainment, fashion, lifestyle news and

information across various areas such as fashion,

skincare, hair care etc.

AD Watch

Advertisement council of India moves

online

Advertising council of India which was formed to serve

the interest of the Indian Advertising Industry which

includes Advertisers, Agencies, Media and other related

bodies in an integrated manner, has come over to

online platform through its own website,

www.adcouncilofindia.org. At present the website

contains general information about the council and

links to various related websites.

Cadbury’s new commercial to target

consumers during the festive season

Cadbury’s famous ‘celebrations’ product line which has

set an example in the industry by increasing the

occasions for chocolate consumption with its famous

“Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye” has again come back in full

swing to make use of Diwali season. The recently

launched TV commercial is focusing on ‘making

someone happy’ through its new rich dry fruit

collection.

Click here to watch

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 launched

Whenever asked, whether the Samsung Galaxy Note is

a phone or a tablet, the answer which Samsung gives is


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http://www.adcouncilofindia.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8C7XNMpwBr4


Articles are invited

“Best Article”: Prateek Upadhyaya & Parul Agarwal, IIM Kozhikode

He/She receives a cash prize of Rs.1000 & a letter of appreciation

We are inviting articles from all the B-schools of India. The articles can be specific to the regular sections of Markathon which includes:

Perspective: Articles related to development of latest trends in marketing arena.

Productolysis: Analysis of a product from the point of view of marketing.

Strategic Analysis: A complete analysis of the marketing strategy of any company or an event.

Apart from above, out of the box views related to marketing are also welcome. The best entry will receive a letter of appreciation and a cash prize of Rs 1000/-. The format of the file should be MS Word doc/docx.

We’re inviting photographs of interesting promotional events/advertisements/hoardings/banners etc. you might have come across in your daily life

for our new section “The 4th P”. Send your self-clicked photographs in JPEG format only.

The last date of receiving all entries is 18th November 2012. Please send your entries marked as <ARTICLE NAME>_<SENDERS’ NAMES>_<INSTITUTE> to [email protected].

‘it is best of two’. The TV commercial which is launched

along with the product seems to do a nice job of

highlighting the product features focusing mostly on its

multi-tasking abilities.

Click here to watch

Piyush Pandey Creative Leadership

Scholarship by Berlin School

The Berlin School of Creative Leadership has instituted a

scholarship in the name of Piyush Pandey, executive

chairman and creative director South Asia, Oglivy and

Mather. The scholarship will provide tuition fees

support for top executives from India to participate in

Berlin school’s part time global EMBA program.


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4NNNHLjMc9I

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[email protected]

Visit: www.iims-markathon.in

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